Spitzer Changes His Mind On Pot

During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, then-AG Eliot Spitzer surprised some members of his own staff by coming out against the legalization of medical marijuana during a pre-primary debate with fellow Democrat and then-Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi.

Spitzer later said his brother, a neurosurgeon, told him other drugs – including the synthetic version of pot – worked just as well to alleviate the many symptoms patients and med-mar advocates say the real thing alleviates.

Advocates didn’t give up, however. After Spitzer was elected, they continued to lobby him on the topic, and believed he might be coming around to their way of thinking.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who has been carrying the med-mar bill for well over a decade, told me on CapTon last July that he believes pot would have been legalized for medical use in New York had former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno not fallen from grace.

Apparently, Spitzer really has come around now that he’s no longer in elected office. He said the following Friday night on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher”:

“To spend prosecutorial resources on pot is ridiculous…I’d be in favor of legalized pot. Legalizing pot is the right way to go.”

Spitzer initially said he favors “decriminalizing” pot, perhaps charging people with a $5 fine for marijuana-related offenses. But after some good-natured prodding by Maher, Spitzer relented and agreed that full legalization would indeed be the best way to go.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who followed Spitzer into the AG’s office in 2006, said during the 2010 governor’s race that he opposed the legalization of pot for medical use.

Following NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s decision last summer to lift the freeze on his state’s program that he enacted last spring, Cuomo said he’s reviewing the issue, but doesn’t have a “final position.”